Box Office: FANTASTIC FOUR flops with $26m opening weekend

20th Century Fox‘s Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank (Chronicle) and starring Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell, opened for previews Thursday night, and while it was #1 on Friday with $11.3 million, it ended up falling behind Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation for the weekend according to Sunday estimates.

After making $2.7 million in Thursday previews, it opened officially on Friday in 3,995 theaters (the widest release for any movie in theaters right now) and after its $11.3 million Friday, it dropped on Saturday with $8.5 million and Fox are projecting it to make $6.4 million on Sunday adding up to an estimated $26.2 million for the weekend. That’s $6,658 per theater, which is fairly awful for such a high-profile wide summer release, especially since it didn’t have a ton of direct competition other than Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man.

This performance is not a good sign for the film’s expected sequel that was dated for June 9, 2017 before the movie’s release.

Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation was in second place on Friday with $8.2 million but its strong word-of-mouth and reviews helped push it up to an estimated $29.4 million, winning its second weekend at the box office with a respectable 47% drop. It has grossed $108.6 million so far, although it has a lot stronger competition this coming weekend with Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which is also adapted from a popular spy TV show. $4.3 million of that weekend total was grossed on 369 domestic IMAX screens with another $3.5 million internationally for a global IMAX total of just under $25 million to date.

New distributor STX Entertainment broke onto the scene with their first release, Joel Edgerton’s directorial debut, the psychological thriller The Gift, co-starring Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall, which scored an impressive $12 million in 2,550 theaters or $4,706 per theater to take second place.

New Line and Warner Bros. Pictures’ remake/sequel Vacation, starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann and Chris Hemsworth, brought in $9.1 million in its second weekend (down 38%) to take fourth place with $37.3 million grossed to date.

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man (Disney) dropped to fifth place with $7.8 million (down 39%) as it brought its domestic gross to $147.4 million with another $9.2 million grossed overseas to bring its global total to $326.3 million.

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Minions took sixth place with $7.4 million as it crossed the $300 million mark, the fifth movie of the year to hit that milestone domestically, although with $302.7 million so far, it might not catch up to the year’s current top animated film, Pixar’s Inside Out, which has grossed over $330 million. It has also crossed the $900 million mark globally, maintaining the animated franchise’s popularity with a third Despicable Me scheduled for 2017.

Sony Pictures opened the musical dramedy Ricki and the Flash, reuniting Meryl Streep with director Jonathan Demme, and co-starring Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer and Rick Springfield, on Friday in 1,603 theaters where it grossed an estimated $7 million or $4,367 per theater for seventh place.

Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow’s rom-com Trainwreck (Universal) took eight place with $6.3 million, down 34%, with a domestic take of $91.1 million in its first month.

Adam Sandler’s video game action-comedy Pixels fell to ninth place with $5.4 million, down 48% in its third weekend, as it has grossed $57.6 million domestically and another $73 million overseas.

Lionsgate’s own animated offering Shaun the Sheep Movie grossed an estimated $4 million over the weekend for tenth place after grossing $1.6 million on Wednesday and Thursday amounting to $5.6 million in its first two days.